Friday, May 15, 2026

Born on this day – James Mason:


James Mason


Actor

May 15, 1909 – July 27, 1984

Credits:

11 Harrowhouse (1974); 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954); 5 Fingers (1952); A Bob Hope Comedy Special (1966); A Dangerous Summer (1982); A Dangerous Summer: Rekindled (2006); A Night at the Movies: The Suspenseful World of Thrillers (2009); A Place of One's Own (1945); A Star Is Born (1954); A Star Is Born: Special Features (2010); A Touch of Larceny (1960); A.D. (1985); A.J. Cronin's Hatter's Castle (1942); ABC Stage 67 (1966); About Faces (1960); AFI Life Achievement Award (1983); Age of Consent (1969); Age of Consent: Helen Mirren - A Conversation with Cora (2009); Alexandre (1983); Alibi (1942); All Star Revue (1952); Alle origini della mafia (1976); Allons au cinéma (1977); Appointment with Destiny (1971); Apropos Film (1967); Arena (1977–1995); Autobiography of a Princess (1975); Bad Man's River (1971); Bees on the Boat-Deck (1939); Best of British (1987); Bigger Than Life (1956); Biography (1987 / 1995); Blind Man's Bluff (1936); Blood, Sweat and Tears (1971); Bloodline (1979); Bob Ballard: An Explorer's Life (2020); Bob Hope's Overseas Christmas Tours: Around the World with the Troops - 1941-1972 (1980); Bob Hope's World of Comedy (1976); Botany Bay (1952); Cadence 3 (1983); Candlelight in Algeria (1943); Casino Royale: The Royal Premiere (1967); Catalogue of Ships (2008); Catch As Catch Can (1937); Caught (1949); Charade (1954); Charlie Rose (1999); Child's Play (1972); Chris Olsen - The Boy Who Cried (2016); Churchill and the Movie Mogul (2019); Cinéma cinémas (1983); Clapper Board (1979); Cold Sweat (1970); Collector's World (1972); Compression (2023); Cop-Out (1967); Corazón de... (2006); Crepa padrone, crepa tranquillo (1970); Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan (2020); Cross of Iron (1977); Cry Terror! (1958); Cyrano de Bergerac (1938); Death Cell (1941); Dee Time (1969); Della (1969); Dix de der (1975); Don't Eat the Pictures: Sesame Street at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1983); Down Under with Ron and Valerie Taylor (2009); Dr. Fischer of Geneva (1984); Dr. Kildare (1965); Duffy (1968); East Side, West Side (1949); Ellis in Freedomland (1952); Escape from Zahrain (1962); Evil Under the Sun (1982); Face to Face (1952); Far into the Night (1943); Film '72 (1972); Film Preview (1966); Filmworker (2017); Fire Over England (1937); Forever, Darling (1956); Frankenstein: The True Story (1973); Gala de l'Unicef (1966); Gala de l'union (1970); General Electric Summer Originals (1956); General Electric Theater (1957); Genghis Khan (1965); George Washington (1984); Georgy Girl (1966); Girl Talk (1968); Good Morning America (1979–1981); Goodyear Theatre (1959); Great Expectations (1974); Great Performances (1988); Group Madness (1983); Gypsy (1967); Halloween Monster Bash (1991); Heaven Can Wait (1978); Here's Hollywood (1961); Hero's Island (1962); History of World Cinema: Part I (2021); Hollywood (1980); Hollywood Insider (2021); Hollywood Rivals (2001–2002); Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 1 (1999); Homage to Chagall: The Colours of Love (1977); Home James (1972); Hot Stuff (1976); Hotel Reserve (1944); I Met a Murderer (1939); In Search of Rembrandt (1969); Inside Edition (2015); Inside Out (1975); Island in the Sun (1957); ITV Play of the Week (1966); ITV Sunday Night Drama (1965); Ivanhoe (1982); I've Got a Secret (1956); James Mason: The Star They Loved to Hate (1984); Jane Wyman Presents the Fireside Theatre (1958); Jesus of Nazareth (1977); John Brown's Raid (1960); John Keats: His Life and Death (1973); Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959); Julius Caesar (1953); Kidnap Syndicate (1975); Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! (1971); Kubrick by Kubrick (2020); Kubrick Remembered (2014); La nuit des Césars (1985); Lady Possessed (1952); Late Extra (1935); L'avare (1939); Lena (1964); Les nouveaux rendez-vous (1980); Lolita (1962); Lolita, méprise sur un fantasme (2021); Lord Jim (1965); Lux Video Theatre (1954–1955); Madame Bovary (1949); Man of Evil (1944); Mandingo (1975); Martin Scorsese on 'Age of Consent' (2009); Max & James & Danielle (2015); Mayerling (1968); Murder by Decree (1979); My Name Is Alfred Hitchcock (2022); NBC White Paper (1983); NET Festival (1970); Night of 100 Stars (1982); Nihon eiga no hyaku nen / Century of Cinema (1995); North by Northwest (1959); North Sea Hijack (1980); Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! (2008); Odd Man Out (1947); Omnibus / Napoleon's Love Letters (1953); One Way Street (1950); Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951); Panic! (1957); Parkinson (1972); Passion & Poetry: Sam's War (2011); Password (1962–1967); People of the Wind (1976); Person to Person (1959); Personality (1967); Playhouse 90 (1957–1960); Prince Valiant (1954); Prison Breaker (1936); Release (1968); Rome in Madrid (1964); Room 237 (2012); Salem's Lot (1979); Schlitz Playhouse (1954–1958); Secret Mission (1942); Sid & Judy (2019); Six Fifty-Five Special (1981); Socrates (1982); Spring and Port Wine (1970); Square Pegs (1939); Stars on Sunday (1970–1979); Stoney Burke (1962); Studio of the Stars: The Elstree Story (1967); Survival (1974); Talking Pictures (2013); Telephone Time (1957); Terror House (1942); The 55th Annual Academy Awards (1983); The Agatha Christie Code (2005); The Age of Believing: The Disney Live Action Classics (2008); The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962); The Assisi Underground (1985); The Best of Hollywood (2017); The Blue Max (1966); The Bob Hope Show (1955–1966); The Boys from Brazil (1978); The Celluloid Heroes (1995); The Chevy Show (1955); The Child (1954); The Circle (1939); The David Frost Show (1969); The Deadly Affair (1967); The Decks Ran Red (1958); The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel (1951); The Desert Rats (1953); The Destructors (1974); The Dick Cavett Show (1968); The Directors (2018); The DuPont Show with June Allyson (1960); The Eamonn Andrews Show (1967); The Ed Sullivan Show (1951–1955); The Fabulous Fox (2004); The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964); The Flower in His Mouth (1975); The Frank Sinatra Show (1952); The Golden Gong (1985); The Golden Years of Alexander Korda (1968); The High Command (1937); The James Mason Show (1953); The Joey Bishop Show (1967–1969); The Last of Sheila (1973); The Late Show (1992); The Left Hand of the Law (1975); The Legend of Silent Night (1968); The Linkletter Show (1960); The London Nobody Knows (1968); The Look of the Week (1966–1967); The MacKintosh Man (1973); The Magical World of Disney (1954 / 1976); The Making of '20000 Leagues Under the Sea' (2003); The Making of Agatha Christie's 'Evil Under the Sun' (1982); The Making of 'the Verdict' (1982); The Man Between (1953); The Man in Grey (1943); The Many Faces of... (2013); The Marriage-Go-Round (1961); The Merv Griffin Show (1967–1970); The Mike Douglas Show (1967–1969); The Mill on the Floss (1936); The Moon in the Yellow River (1938); The Passage (1979); The Picture of Dorian Gray (1962); The Prisoner of Zenda (1952); The Pumpkin Eater (1964); The Reckless Moment (1949); The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1937); The River Nile (1962); The Royal Variety Performance 1979 (1979); The Sea Gull (1968); The Sea in Your Future (1971); The Search for Alexander the Great (1981); The Search for the Nile (1971); The Seventh Veil (1945); The Shooting Party (1984); The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (1967); The Spy in White (1936); The Steve Allen Plymouth Show (1956); The Story of Three Loves / The Jealous Lover (1953); The Tell-Tale Heart (1953); The Tonight Show Starring Jack Paar (1958); The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1965–1983); The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960); The Uninhibited (1965); The Upturned Glass (1947); The Verdict (1982); The Virginia Graham Show (1971); The Water Babies (1978); The Wicked Lady (1945); The Wind in the Wires (1972); The World About Us (1968); The Yin and the Yang of Mr. Go (1970); Theatre '62 (1962); They Met in the Dark (1943); They Were Sisters (1945); This Is Your Life (1961–1973); Thunder Rock (1942); Tiara Tahiti (1962); Today (1956); Torpedo Bay (1963); Troubled Waters (1936); TV's Funniest Game Show Moments (1984); Twentieth Century Fox: The Blockbuster Years (2000); Twentieth Century Fox: The First 50 Years (1997); Twice Branded (1936); Unknown Chaplin (1983); V.I.P.-Schaukel (1975); Verifica incerta - Disperse Exclamatory Phase (1965); Vienna: The Years Remembered (1968); Voyage of the Damned (1976); Warner Bros. 75th Anniversary: No Guts, No Glory (1998); What's My Line? (1951–1966); Yellowbeard (1983); Your Show of Shows / Caesar's Hour (1956); You're Putting Me On (1969).

Born on this day – Joseph Cotton:


Joseph Cotton

Actor

May 15, 1905 – February 6, 1994

Born on this day – Anny Ondra:


Anny Ondra


Actress

Producer

May 15, 1902 – February 28, 1987

Credits:

A Night in Paradise (1932); American Masters (1998); Anicko, vrat se! (1927); Baby (1932); Becoming Hitchcock: The Legacy of Blackmail (2024); Blackmail (1929); Chorus Girls (1928); Chytte ho! (1925); Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood (1995); Dáma s malou nozkou (1920); Das ist Ihr Leben (1979); Das Mädel aus U.S.A. (1930); Das Mädel mit der Peitsche (1929); Das verliebte Hotel (1933); Der Dienstmann (1932); Der erste Kuß (1928); Der Gasmann (1941); Der neue Schreibtisch (1934); Der Scheidungsgrund (1937); Der Sport-Spiegel (1963–1964); Der Unwiderstehliche (1937); Die Fledermaus (1931); Die grausame Freundin (1932); Die große Sehnsucht (1930); Die Kaviarprinzessin (1929); Die Pratermizzi (1926); Die vertauschte Braut (1934); Die vom Rummelplatz (1930); Do panského stavu (1925); Donogoo Tonka (1936); Drátenícek (1920); Drvostep (1923); Duvod k rozvodu (1937); E! True Hollywood Story (1999); Ein angenehmer Patient (1932); Ein Mädel vom Ballett (1937); Eine Freundin so goldig wie Du (1930); Evas Töchter (1928); Faut-il les marier? (1932); Flitterwochen (1936); Fräulein Hoffmanns Erzählungen (1933); Führe uns nicht in Versuchung (1922); Gilly poprvé v Praze (1920); Glorious Youth (1928); God’s Clay (1928); Großreinemachen (1935); Hallo Max! (1967); Helden der Propaganda - Sportler in der NS-Zeit (2017); Himmel, wir erben ein Schloß (1943); Hitchcock Confidential (2019); Hitchcock/Truffaut (2015); Hrabenka z podskalí (1926); Hütet eure Töchter (1922); Ich liebe dich (1925); Im Fernseh-Zoo - Was weiß man schon von Tieren... (1957); Kantor ideál (1932); Karel Havlícek Borovský (1925); Kiki (1932); Knockout - Ein junges Mädchen, ein junger Mann (1935); Kvet ze Sumavy (1927); La chauve-souris (1932); La fille du régiment (1933); L’amour en cage (1934); Le comte Billy (1931); Little Dorrit (1934); Living Famously (2003); Lucerna (1925); Mamsell Nitouche (1931); Meschugge ist Trumpf (1914); Milenky starého kriminálníka (1927); Muz bez srdce (1923); Narren im Schnee (1938); Nikyho velebné dobrodruzství (1920); On a jeho sestra (1931); Otrávené svetlo (1921); Palimpsest (1919); Pantáta Bezousek (1927); Paul Merton Looks at Alfred Hitchcock (2009); Polenblut (1934); Polská krev (1934); Professeur Cupidon (1933); Reel Herstory: The Real Story of Reel Women (2014); Reputations (1999); Saxophon-Susi (1928); Schön muß man sein (1951); Seine Hoheit, der Eintänzer (1927); Sest musketýru (1925); Setrelé písmo (1921); Shepperton Babylon (2005); Sladká Josefínka (1927); Sound Test for Blackmail (1929); Sündenbabel Berlin - Metropole des Verbrechens 1918-1933 (2020); Sündig und süß (1929); Tam na horách (1920); The Arrival from the Darkness (1921); The Hound of the Baskervilles (1937); The Manxman (1929); The Regiment’s Daughter (1933); The Ringer (1932); The Stars Shine (1938); The Young Count (1935); The Zurich Engagement (1957); Trude, die Sechzehnjährige (1926); True Fear: The Making of Psycho (2015); Tu ten kámen (1923); Une nuit au paradis (1932); Únos bankére Fuxe (1923); Usmevy (2001); Vdavky Nanynky Kulichovy (1925); Velbloud uchem jehly (1926); Versuchen Sie meine Schwester (1931); Vor Liebe wird gewarnt (1937); White Paradise (1924); Zigeunerliebe (1922); Zpev zlata (1921).

Born on this day – Katherine Anne Porter:


Katherine Anne Porter


Writer

May 15, 1890 – September 18, 1980

Credits:

Books:

40 Short Stories: A Portable Anthology (2000); 50 Great Short Stories (1952); A Wreath for the Gamekeeper (1959); Collected Essays and Occasional Writings (1973); Collected Stories and Other Writings (2008); Conversations (1987); Downhome (1995); Downward Path to Wisdom (1939); Eudora Welty (1941); Flowering Judas and Other Stories (1935); Gertrude Stein, a self-portrait (1953); Gracious Greatness (1964); Growing Up in the South (1991); Hacienda (1934); Katherine Anne Porter's Poetry (1996); Letters of Katherine A. Porter (1990); Noon Wine (1937); Outline of Mexican popular arts and crafts (1922); Selected Letters of Katherine Anne Porter (2012); Ship of Fools (1962); Short Story Masterpieces: 35 Classic American and British Stories from the First Half of the 20th Century (1954); Stories of the Modern South (1977); The Best American Short Stories of the Century (2000); The Collected Stories (1965); The Cracked Looking-Glass (2018); The Days Before (1952); The Flower of Flowers (1950); The Grave (2013); The Leaning Tower And Other Stories (1944); The Never-Ending Wrong (1977); The Old Order (1955); The Short Story: 30 Masterpieces (1992); This Strange, Old World and Other Book Reviews (2008); Uncollected Early Prose (1993); Women and Fiction (1975).

Movies and television:

ABC Stage 67 (1966); American Masters (1986); American Playhouse (1985); Boston Blackie (1952); Camera Three (1956–1964); Camera Three (1959–1961); Climax! (1956); Ship of Fools (1965); The Circus (1990); The DuPont Show of the Week (1962); The Fig Tree (1987); The Jilting of Granny Weatherall (1980); The Martyr (2010); The Wednesday Play (1964).

Introvert insight:


I hold this to be the highest task for a bond between two people: that each protects the solitude of the other.

- Rainer Maria Rilke.

Solitude is creativity's best friend, and solitude is refreshment for our souls.

- Naomi Judd.

The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.

- Albert Einstein.

Without great solitude no serious work is possible.

- Pablo Picasso.

Barbara Kingsolver, on writing:


Close the door.
Write with no one looking over your shoulder.
Don't try to figure out what other people want to hear from you;
figure out what you have to say.
It's the one and only thing you have to offer.

- Barbara Kingsolver.

Thursday, May 14, 2026

On this day in the Star Trek universe:

Star Trek: The Next Generation (1988 & 1994)
Star Trek: Voyager (1997)
Star Trek: Enterprise (2003)


Star Trek: The Next Generation
Season 1. Episode 25.
Episode entitled: The Neutral Zone.
Released May 14, 1988.
Directed by James L. Conway.
Written by Maurice Hurley, Deborah McIntyre, Mona Clee, Hannah Louise Shearer, Tracy Tormé, Hans Beimler, Richard Manning.
Created by Gene Roddenberry.
Music by Ron Jones.
Cast: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Denise Crosby, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, Wil Wheaton, Marc Alaimo, Anthony James, Leon Rippy, Gracie Harrison, Peter Mark Richman, Majel Barrett, Darrell Burris, Dexter Clay, Jeffrey Deacon, Susan Duchow, Shana Golden, Peter Lauritson, Nora Leonhardt, Tim McCormack, James McElroy, Lorine Mendell, Susan Sackett, Guy Vardaman.

Star Trek: The Next Generation
Season 7. Episode 24.
Episode entitled: Preemptive Strike.
Released May 14, 1994.
Directed by Patrick Stewart.
Written by René Echevarria, Naren Shankar, René Echevarria.
Created by Gene Roddenberry.
Music by Jay Chattaway.
Cast: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, Michelle Forbes, John Franklyn-Robbins, Natalija Nogulich, William Thomas Jr., Shannon Cochran, Richard Poe, Sam Alejan, Rick Avery, Renna Bartlett, Steve Blalock, Michael Braveheart, Cameron, David Paul Christian, Tracee Cocco, John Copage, Debbie David, Holiday Freeman, Grace Harrell, Red Horton, Dawn Lovett, Buck McDancer, Christina Wegler Miles, Tom Morga, Rebecca Parker, Shawn Michael Perry, Keith Rayve, Robin Ritter, Joyce Robinson, Theresa St. Clair, Oliver Theess.


Star Trek: Voyager
Season 3. Episode 25.
Episode entitled: Worst Case Scenario.
Released May 14, 1997.
Directed by Alexander Singer.
Created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller, Jeri Taylor.
Written by Kenneth Biller, Lisa Klink.
Based on Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry.
Music by Dennis McCarthy.
Cast: Kate Mulgrew, Robert Beltran, Roxann Biggs-Dawson, Jennifer Lien, Robert Duncan McNeill, Ethan Phillips, Robert Picardo, Tim Russ, Garrett Wang, Martha Hackett, Majel Barrett, Steve Blalock, John Copage, Damaris Cordelia, Tarik Ergin, Ransom Gates, Jennifer Gundy, Susan Henley, Kerry Hoyt, Zach LeBeau, Tom Morga, Louis Ortiz, Raphael Sbarge, John Alex Tampoya.


Star Trek: Enterprise
Season 2. Episode 24.
Episode entitled: First Flight.
Released May 14, 2003.
Directed by LeVar Burton.
Written by John Shiban, Chris Black, André Bormanis.
Created by Rick Berman, Brannon Braga.
Based on Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry.
Opening theme song: Faith of the Heart, performed by Russell Watson.
Closing theme: Archer's Theme, by Dennis McCarthy.
Music by Paul Baillargeon.
Cast: Scott Bakula, John Billingsley, Jolene Blalock, Dominic Keating, Anthony Montgomery, Linda Park, Connor Trinneer, Brigid Brannagh, Vaughn Armstrong, Keith Carradine, Michael Canavan, Victor Bevine, John Moody, Alexandrea Ortiz, Antony Acker, Amy Kate Connolly, Kevin Derr, Marnie Martin, Bobby Pappas, Lemuel Perry.

Star Trek: Enterprise
Season 2. Episode 25.
Episode entitled: Bounty.
Released May 14, 2003.
Directed by Roxann Dawson.
Written by Hans Tobeason, Michael/Mike Sussman, Phyllis Strong, Rick Berman, Brannon Braga, André Bormanis.
Created by Rick Berman, Brannon Braga.
Based on Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry.
Opening theme song: Faith of the Heart, performed by Russell Watson.
Closing theme: Archer's Theme, by Dennis McCarthy.
Music by Jay Chattaway.
Cast: Scott Bakula, John Billingsley, Jolene Blalock, Dominic Keating, Anthony Montgomery, Linda Park, Connor Trinneer, Jordan Lund, Robert O'Reilly, Ed O'Ross, Michael Garvey, Louis Ortiz, Alexandrea Ortiz, Edward Conna, Daphney Damaraux, Duncan K. Fraser, Scott Sterling Hill, Aric Rogokos, Ben Scott.